Jinchuriki Rising
by Crossovernaru
Summary: A powerful enemy has waged war against the Soul Society and the only way to deal with this new threat is to call upon the aid of former allies. But will they agree to help or is Soul Society doomed to fall against this new enemy?
1. Chapter 1

**Jinchuriki Rising**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Bleach or Naruto. **

**"Name of an attack or zanpakuto release"**

"**Demonic voice"**

'_Thoughts or people speaking via communication'_

* * *

**Karakura Town, Japan**

All was quiet to the people of Karakura, well for the average human anyway. The spirits that refused to pass on the other hand were not nearly as lucky.

In one of the many deserted areas of the city a human soul could be seen running. The soul was that of an average man, well as average one can get when they have a chain hanging from their chest. The man appeared frightened and was running as if his life depended on it. Every so often he would look fearfully over his shoulder just to make sure that whatever was chasing him had stopped.

"Got… to… get away, Can't let them catch me! Not when I've finally escaped that horrible place." He thought in his head frantically.

He looked behind his shoulder and slowed down long enough to look over his shoulder and sighed in relief when he saw that whatever was chasing him had finally disappeared. Of course it is in these types of situations that when the person being chased thinks he's escaped, that's usually when the bad thing happens.

The man suddenly fell to the floor and clutched his neck and started to scream in pain. He looked on in horror as his skin started to darken, his voice became static, as if two people were speaking at the same time and his eyes turned the color of an evil yellow with a black sclera. Severe pain shot through his body as he cried tears of blood, which started to drip down his face. He yelled desperately clawing the street and his body leaving his body scarred and bloody.

**"WHY…..WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP!"**

The soul got his wish, but not in the way he intended. Soon after his outburst, a large shadow loomed over the man and a primal growl reached the man's ears. He froze and slowly turned his head to the sound of the growl and his yellow eyes widened to their limit as he saw what was behind him. Its body was humanoid, except that it was over ten feet tall, had oversized hands, a sandy colored body and a mask that looked like a frog. It stared at the man with a look akin to hunger and licked its lips.

This monster was known as a hollow, an evil spirit that was once human, but turned into a demonic beast after losing its soul chain and now it wondered the earth to still a never-ending hunger.

The man trembled in fear before he realized that the monster was not alone, from the corner of his eye he spotted two more monsters. One looking like some sort of demonic bird with the mask of a vulture while the other looked like cross between a spider and a human, with a spider-like mask to complete its look.

The three hollows roared in unison, but it was almost non-existent compared to the fear filled scream that the soul made.

* * *

_**Meanwhile**_

Not too far from the soul's location, an orange haired teen that looked about sixteen, was walking with a group of people following behind.

This teen was Kurosaki Ichigo, a high school student and substitute Shinigami in charge of Karakura town.

"Man things have been so boring since Aizen and his forces have been defeated." ichigo stated with a blank look on his face.

"Are you saying that you would prefer if Aizen were still around to make all our lives a living hell?" snarled a red haired teen that was his age. His hair was styled up in a ponytail and had tattoos on his forehead that were covered by a white hair band. This was Renji Abarai, lieutenant of the six division of the Gotei 13.

"Of course not teme! I just meant that there isn't much to do and that all we've done recently is hunt down hollows."

Rukia Kuchiki, a member of the thirteenth division, slapped Ichigo's head.

"Baka, you of all people should not be complaining about this. In fact you're even lucky to be able to hunt hollows at all!"

Ichigo scoffed in annoyance at Rukia. Eversince he defeated Aizen with the Final Getsuga Tenshou he should have permanently lost his powers. However, quick treatment from Urahara and regular doses of Orihime's Santen Kesshun, allowed him to keep his shinigami abilities. But he had lost the power he had before performing the Final Getsuga Tenshou.

"I agree with Rukia, Kurosaki, you really should not test your luck. Just be glad that there is not much for you to do." commented Uryuu Ishida, the last quincy.

"Come on even you guys have to admit that it's gotten kind of boring. Right Chad?" Ichigo replied asked the giant man standing next to him. Yasutora Sado was quite large for someone in high school and had tanned skin which gave him a rather unique complexion.

"…" was Chads response.

"Translation: Not everyone has incredibly high reiatsu or a low intelligence like you." stated Uryuu with the other members of the group nodded their heads in agreement.

Ichigo looked athem with angry comical expression. "Nobody asked you Ishida."

Orihime the final member of the group decided to step in She was the same age as Kurosaki and was of average height, she had long orange hair and a curvaceous figure along with a larger than normal bust. " Come on everyone; let's not be so grumpy with one another. Why don't we go back to my place and I'll make us a delicious dinner."

Before anyone could decline the invitation to eat Orihime's unusual cooking, Rukia's cellphone started beeping. From that moment, everyone adopted a serious expression and swallowed their mod soul pills as Rukia checked her phone.

"I'm getting a signal, looks like there are four signals in the area. Three of them are hollows and …. I think maybe a soul." Rukia explained though the last part sounded uncertain.

"What do you mean maybe a soul?" Ichigo asked as he placed his combat pass against his chest and causing his soul separate from his body, which soon went limp and allowing him to transform into a shinigami.

"The signal is definitely that of a soul, but it looks … morphed in some way. Wait... somethings happening." Rukia said.

Suddenly the area around them started to feel heavier, as if gravity had increased three times over.

"I'm getting numerous readings! a large swarm of hollows are heading this way." She yelled and soon the entire sky was filled with hundreds of black holes with hollows emerging from them.

"This is just like when I used that soul bait! Where are they coming from?"Uryuu asked

"I think they are after the soul, they seem to be converging towards it." Said Rukia

Ichigo got a serious look: "We will have to split up into two teams. Rukia, Renji and I will head towards the soul the rest of you keep our backs clear.

"Right "everyone agreed.

"What about me" Said Chapi, Rukia's mod soul.

Ichigo gave her a blank look. "Just stay here and look after my body, Okay?"

Chapi stuck out her tongue at Ichigo, "I don't have to listen to you. Big meanie."

A tick mark appeared on Ichigo's forehead and Rukia decided to intervene, "Chapi, please do as he says." The mod soul saluted Rukia, "Yes, mam."

With that over with everyone split up into different directions; each heading their own way.

* * *

The three shinigami soon arrived in a deserted storage house area and drew their zanpakuto keeping an eye out for the hollows as well as the soul they were chasing.

Renji broke the tension. "Where is the soul Rukia?"

Before the petite shinigami could answer her, all three heard a blood curdling scream of fear. The turned to their left and saw a group of hollows chasing a soul.

"I'm guessing right there" Ichigo said before he sprang into action and shunpoed right in front of the hollow before swinging his giant cleaver blade upwards, effectively killing the hollow which disintegrated into dust.

"Hey, are you alri…" he started to ask the soul before said soul slashed his claws across Ichigo's chest.

Dumbstruck Ichigo stared in shock at the dark skinned and demonic looking soul.

_'What the hell? Is that the soul Rukia mentioned_?'

Before the soul could do anything else, Renji appeared behind it and restrained the soul, preventing the soul from attacking Ichigo further.

"What the hell is wrong with you are you crazy or something?" Renji shouted all the while struggling to keep the soul from breaking free. The soul was much stronger than he looked.

**"This feeling…YOU'RE THE SAME AS HIM!"**

All three shinigami stared in shock at the man before them.

Renji continued to question the soul." What are you talking about?"

The soul just continued to shout not even acknowledging Renji's question.

**"YOU'VE GOT THE SAME FEELING AS THE ONE WHO DID THIS TO ME! YOU BASTARDS, JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I DID NOTHING TO DESERVE THIS! I JUST WANT TO PASS ON IN PEACE, WHY DO YOU TORTURE ME LIKE THIS?"** he yelled.

**"YOU WILL NEVER TAKE ME BACK AND I WILL NEVER BE SUBJECTED TO THAT PSYCHO'S EXPERIMENTS."**

It was the soul's next statement that caught the attention of the three shinigami.

**"I WILL NEVER SERVE THAT MADARA GUY!"**

'Madara? Who the hell is that?' Ichigo thought

"Renji keep him still I'm going to cast a kido on him."

"Bakudo #1: S…" However before Rukia could cast the sealing kido the soul in Renji's arms suddenly went limp, an expression of fear on etched across his face.

"W..why did he stop" Rukia asked

It was Renji who answered for her."Rukia, Ichigo… you guys might want to take a look around"

When they did their eyes widened. Surrounding the entire area was a huge army of hollows all glaring hungrily at the soul. Ichigo cursed. _'Dammit, we were so preoccupied with that crazy soul that we didn't notice them coming.'_

Then as one the hollows all released a unified roar. It was so loud that the shinigami and the mutated soul were forced to clutch their ears in pain.

The hollows then jumped towards them, their only desire to eat the soul.

Recovering from their shock, Ichigo , Renji and Rukia recovered from their stupor.

_'Crap, they are after the soul'_, Ichigo mentally cursed.

"Rukia make sure the soul is safe. Renji keep to your side and cut everything that tries to eat you." "Baka don't tell me what to do!" the red haired teen yelled in frustration with a comical look of anger on his face.

He then placed his fingers on the flat of his blade and slid them along the blades length as he shouted his shikai release,"**Roar, Zabimaru."** Renji's sword was enveloped in flash of red light as it transformed into his shikai, a large blade composed of multiple segments and at the beginning of each segment, parts of the blade protruded outwards, making it look like animal fangs.

"Just make sure that you stay out of my way or I'll slash you up like one of these hollows".

The orange haired teen smirked, before raising his blade to the oncoming swarm of hollows. He gathered his spiritual energy, before swinging the giant blade ." Take this **Getsuga Tenshou!**"

For everything in front of ichigo the world turned bright blue as an arc of condensed spiritual power burst forth and cut through the swarm of hollows and reducing a large number of them to dust.

Ichigo then flash stepped in front of a hollow and proceeded to slash the creature in half. Another hollow roared and swung its fist at Ichigo, who raised the flat end of his blade and blocked the strike. Flexing his shoulders he pushed the hollow back before entering the hollows defences and raised the sharp end of the blade and performed a vertical diagonal slash, severing the hollow in half.

A hollow appeared behind him with the intent bringing both arms down in a hammer motion. Before the hollow could attack, Renji appeared in front of it and swung his sword which extended and moved like a whip, cutting through the monster along with two more hollows behind it.

"Stop letting your guard down, baka" Renji said, which caused Ichigo to grin.

Meanwhile Rukia was having a little trouble protecting the soul from the hollows. It really isn't easy to protect someone from a group of hungry evil souls when the soul you're protecting is constantly running around trying to get away from you and the things that are trying to eat him.

"Stay still, do you really want to get devoured by these hollows" Rukia yelled. But the soul's only answer was to dash toward Rukia and attack her with his sharp claws.

**"SHUT UP! YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO TRICK ME! TRYING TO GET ME TO GO BACK!"**

Rukia performed a flash step causing the souls eyes to widen in disbelief. Feeling a presence behind him and looked to see Rukia with her blade stabbed right into the mask of a hollow who had attempted to eat him..

"I can assure you we are not with who you think we are. We only want to help you and if possible find whoever did this to you." She spoke with a calm voice and a determined look on her face.

For once the soul seemed to look at her with reason, instead of the hateful look he had moments ago. "You really mean it? ... You want to help… me?" the mutated soul asked

Rukia nodded her head and held out her hand urging the soul to take it. The soul reached out to take Rukia's hand. Just as he made contact the souls eyes widened and he pushed Rukia and yelled: **"LOOK OUT!"**

"What are you...?" Rukia's eyes widened when she saw the spot she had been standing previously, cracked and from that spot erupted a hollow with a spider like mask and an upper human body and the lower half of a spider.

The hollow snatched up the soul and proceeded to crush it with its jaws. As the soul screamed Rukia charged forward hoping she could save the soul, but deep down even she knew that the soul would die.

Sensing her intentions the soul yelled out his final words. **"No, it's no use I'm a goner! If you really meant what you said, then please help the others! Don't let anyone else suffer the same fate as I did. You have to stop the mad men who did this. Before more people get hurt.**" The soul let his last smile grace his lips and despite his monstrous appearance, he never felt more human. **"Farewell, kind strangers."**

Rukia, Ichigo and Renji could only stare in horror as the hollow crushed the soul in its jaws and the started to devour it. In a few mouthfuls, the soul was gone in the hollows gullet.

Before any of the three shinigami could do anything something even more terrible happened.

**(Bleach: unseen enemy theme)**

The hollow's body began to pulse and a dark aura surrounded it. For a moment all fighting stopped, then the hollow released an incredibly powerful roar that reverberated around the area. They could only watch in horror and profound curiosity as the hollow began to transform right before their eyes.

Dark zigzag like marks started to cover its mask which began stretching becoming larger and longer and the hollows eight yellow eyes turned into slits. Its entire body began to grow in size and change in form. Similar marks that were on its face started to cover the entirety of its body, its teeth started to sharpen into points and soon after its jaws started to elongate outward and pincers grew from the sides. Horns grew all over its mask and back in outward directions, its shoulders and elbows sprouted spikes of white bone and its claws grew sharper than before.

Soon the transformation was completed and the three shinigami could only stare in horror at the transformed hollow before them. The hollow glared at them and roared again sending chills down their spines.

"What the hell… this thing's spiritual pressure just went through the roof" said Ichigo.

"This creature is nothing more than an average hollow, yet it has the same level of reiatsu as a Menos Grande.

"Ichigo, Rukia don't let your guard down! Even if it has changed this thing is still a hollow, so keep your guard up." Renji yelled.

The two other shinigami shook themselves out of their stupor and resumed a battle stance. The hollow grinned evilly as it vanished in a burst of static, shocking all three of them.

"Sonido!" they all shouted mentally before they instinctively jumped away as the hollow brought its arm down on them.

A large shockwave tore through the ground leaving a 10 foot long trench. The hollow retracted its arm from the smoke and the threes surprise grew even more when they saw that the hollows arm had transformed into an axe like weapon.

"What type of hollow is this thing, I've never seen a hollow change its body mass like that." Rukia spoke in disbelief.

The hollowed screamed and charged again. Renji rushed forward ignoring his comrades demand to stop.

"Take this, Teme!"Renji roared as he shunpoed in front of the hollow, momentarily catching it off guard, and swung Zabimaru in an upwards slash. The blade extended upwards and cleaved right through the hollows face.

The hollow fell to its knees and Renji turned around and smirked at his victory. But Rukia's eyes widened and yelled:

"RENJI, BEHIND YOU!" Renji instinctively turned and jumped back, only to feel a burning sensation run from his right shoulder to his left hip. Renji looked down in shock as he stared in utter shock at the large gash he had just received. He stared at the one responsible for his wound and his eyes widened for the umpteenth time that night in horror and shock.

Renji's attacker was none other than the hollow he had just killed or he thought he killed. The hollow's transformed arm was now in the form of a long blade and it was covered I Renji's blood. The death blow it should have died from was slowly healing and the two halves of its head slowly reconnected. It roared in triumph and licked the blade of the shinigami's blood. Before Renji could recover, the hollow delivered a swift kick to his gut, sendiing him rolling across the ground, before he finally came to a stop and remained motionless, knocked uncounscious from blood loss and the powerful kick.

"Kuso! What is the meaning of this? Renji's attack should have killed it ….. And yet it just got back up as if nothing happened." Ichigo cursed mentally.

Rukia furious at seeing her long-time friend injured, unleashed her shikai. "**Dance, Sode No Shirayuki!" **

Rukia held out her blade and as she turned it counter clockwise, her once normal katana transformed into a pure white blade with a long white ribbon flowing from the pommel.

"Ichigo get Renji out of there." Ichigo nodded and shunpoed in the direction of the hollow, already used to the technique, the hollow proceeded to attack Ichigo.

"**Hado, number 30: Shakkaho", **a blast of red energy crashed into the hollows face, causing it to roar in fury. Ichigo, looked over to Rukia with her palm out. Ichigo nodded to her and then performed a flash step.

Seeing her friend safe, Rukia turned towards the hollow, which had just recovered from Rukias attack, its wounds already healed. She then punctured the ground four times in the shape of a semi-circle and lifted her blade, the point directed at the hollow.

"**Tsugi no Mai, Hakuren" **an avalanche of snow and ice rushed towards the hollow. Rukia smirked knowing her victory was assured. The hollow then opened its mouth and a ball of pure red energy formed. "A cero?" Rukia yelled in shock. The attack formed and collided directly with Rukia's attack and an explosion of steam erupted from the point of contact. Ichigo reappeared next to Rukia. "Come on that definitely had to have killed it."

The smoke cleared and the hollow emerged parts of its body frozen, but they were already healing at a rapid rate. "It used the cero the moment my attack collided and reduced the damage by a considerable amount." Rukia gritted her teeth in frustration. "Rukia I didn't even know that ordinary hollows could perform a cero."

"They can't. Only those of that are the level of Menos Grande can use the cero."

"Well I'm pretty sure that isn't a Menos level hollow." Ichigo replied.

"Somehow, by devouring that soul, this hollow has managed to force evolve itself to a level similar to that of Menos class." Rukia, replied as she analysed the hollow. "I don't know how, but this forced evolution also seems to have made it immune to the powers of our zanpakuto. We cannot kill...we have no choice, but to retreat."

Ichigo glared at the hollow. "Rukia take Renji for me." Rukia stared in disbelief as she was handed the red head. "Wha…What are you trying to do?"

"Relax I'm going to fight and make sure I cleave it in half."

"You fool don't do something so recless. Our zanpakuto have no effect on that thing, just retreat."

Ichigo ignored her and brought his hand up to his face before bringing it down his face in a ripping motion. Black energy rimmed with a red glow formed on his face before taking on the shape of a mask. The mask was white with two thick black lines that were on each half of the mask. The mask had a set of razor sharp jaws that were closed and two eye holes, which showed Ichigo's eyes, which now had black scleras and golden irises. The mask looked like a menacing skull.

Ichigo spoke to Rukia defiantly. **"Rukia you should know me by now. I never run away from a fight." **

The hollow roared before its spiritual power level sky rocketed and dark violet energy surrounded its body. Ichigo also responded in a similar fashion and black energy with red outlines surrounded him. The hollow charged forward, its arms transforming into giant axes and Ichigo vanished in a flash step and brought his blade down on the hollow. The creature raised its arms and blocked the attack which caused a massive shockwave. The creature pushed off and dashed towards Ichigo who raised his sword just in time to block the creatures attack. The creature soon sent barrage after barrage of attacks, with Ichigo matching its speed and retaliated with quick swings and jabs at the hollow who countered every move Ichigo made. Ichigo and the hollow clashed one more time and were sent back by the force the two had put into the blow. Ichigo was breathing heavily and was covered in bleeding gashes.

"**All right I have had enough of this!**" Ichigo yelled, "**This next strike will be the last one.**" The hollow roared at the substitute shinigami's challenge and its spiritual power increased and started to swirl around it. Ichigo also charged his power, storing all the pent up energy within his zanpakuto. With Zangetsu held high over his head, he leapt toward the hollow prepared to deal the final blow as the hollow shot towards him with the intent to kill. The fighters clashed in an explosion of reiatsu that covered the battle field in a white light. Rukia shielded her eyes from the intensity and when it died down she saw both Ichigo and the hollow back to back. After what seemed like an eternity, the victor of the battle finally emerged.

Ichigo's mask crumbled into shards which dispersed into dust, blood dripping down the side of his head. The hollow remained motionless... before blood spurted from its wound as it began to split down the middle,

"A valiant effort Ichigo, but its useless our Zanpakuto can't…." Before Rukia could finish the hollow let out a final roar before it was envelopped in a dark light. Once the light died down, the hollow returned to its form before it ate the soul and then it turned grey before evaporating into nothingness.

Rukia stared at the scene and couldn't help but stare at her friend impressed by what he had done. "What was that you said about me not being able to beat it", he responded with a grin on his face.

Before Rukia could respond, she was interrupted. "Seems like everything's taken cared of hear." A male voice spoke out.

Ichigo and Rukia turned and saw a black cat, which had been the source of the voice.

"Yoruichi" Both shinigami exclaimed.

"Come, we must get to Kisuke's immediately and get you all patched up. We've been called by the Gotei 13, apparently something big is happening."

"Dammit Ichigo..." Ichigo looked down at the red haired man, who looked ready to faint from exhaustion, "You just had to go looking asking for something to happen. Next time be careful what you wish for." He said before passing out once again. "Renji...", Ichigo took Renji from Rukia and draped his arm over his shoulder, making sure that he would not fall off.

Ichigo and Rukia nodded before vanishing along with the cat, unbeknownst to them, that a figure had witnessed their battle and its outcome.

* * *

A figure emerged from the shadows. His face was covered in a black cloak, which masked his face. When he was sure that Ichigo and his friends were far enough he thrust his hands forward and muttered a type of incantation under his breath. When he finished a mirror formed out of thin air showing another man whose face was also hidden.

"_Well?"_

"The field test was successful. In fact, the results yielded were much better than anticipated."

"_I see. This means that we can proceed as planned. All we need is for the subjects to finish their 'preparations'."_

"Also, may I ask what we will do now?" The cloaked figure asked.

"The Gotei 13 will now be aware of our every move. Also Yamammoto and his captains will not simply stand idly by while we do as we please. Also, that boy Kurosaki Ichigo, He is able to destroy our hollows."

"_Do not take me for an idiot. You let me deal with that old buzzard. As for his captains, they will have their hands full dealing with mutated hollows. As for Kurosaki Ichigo … I have an idea as to why he is capable of destroying the mutated hollows. Hmmmm, Aizen purposely withheld this information from us. But I guess that no longer matters."_

"You realise that the others like him will..."

"_Please, I've already dealt with the others. Whatever you do next, try not to kill the boy. He is the key to leading __**them**__ to us."_

The figure was silent for a while before he sighed.

"You really enjoy taking risks. But I'm really not one to talk. So I will just have to trust you….._**Lord Madara."**_

Two pairs of red eyes shone in the darkness. "_Make sure you don't fail me or you will know a fate worse than death."_

The man replied with a nod of his head and then cut the connection. "So it finally begins." He said, before vanishing into the shadows.

* * *

**Unknown location, spirit world**

On a cliff overlooking a vast expanse of forest, a figure in a sand colored cloak, which fluttered because of the strong winds, was sitting down a piece of stone gazing at the scenery before him.

"I was wondering where you were." The cloaked figure turned around and saw a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had the same type of cloak, but his hood was down showing his face to the world. He had emerald green eyes surrounded by black markings, pale skin, red hair that went down to his shoulders and a tattoo was visible above his left eye that had the kanji for "love'.

"..."

"Is something bothering you?" the red haired man asked.

The figure was silent for a long time before he replied back. "Do you feel that ominous sensation in the wind?"

The red haired man nodded, "I do... A storm is fast approaching."

The cloaked figure stood up, his hood falling and revealed his face. He appeared to be the same age as the red haired man and he had spiky blond hair that went down to his neck. He had sapphire blue eyes and three whiskers like marks on each cheek. His gaze held a sense of authority and power. The kind that was evident in a leader. But if one looked more closely, they could see a hint of sadness.

"Gaara", the blond addressed the red haired man. "We must go rejoin the others; we will be having company soon." The blond man responded cryptically.

Gaara nodded his head in agreement; "Understood... Naruto".

Naruto and Gaara then vanished into the wind to go and prepare for the inevitable confrontation that would come knocking on their door.

**Chapter end!**

**Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. **

**Till next time please read and review and Happy Holidays :) **


	2. Chapter 2: Bijuu Corps

**Jinchuriki Rising**

**Disclaimer :**** I do not own bleach or Naruto.**

**I apologize for the long delay, so I will not keep all of you waiting any longer. Here is the second chapter of Jinchuriki Rising.**

**Chapter 2: The Bijuu Corps**

**Karakura town, Kisuke's shop**

A couple of hours had passed since Ichigo defeated the evolved mutant hollow. They had arrived at Kisuke's house, where Orihime, Uryuu, Kisuke were waiting for them. While Orihime was healing Renji's wounds, Kisuke explained the reason why he called them.

Kisuke took out his signature fan and began fanning himself. "You've no doubt wondered why I called you here."

Ichigo stared at the slightly eccentric man. "Is it something to do about that weird hollow we fought?"

Kisuke answered "That matter is related, but no, that wasn't why I called you here."

As he said that he snapped his fan closed. "Some guests from soul society arrived earlier and need to talk to you." The door behind Kisuke opened up and revealed his mystery guests.

Standing behind the former captain was a young boy wearing a shihakuso with a white haori draped over his shoulders signifying his position as a captain of soul society. He had silver hair and was short in terms of height and his zanpakuto was strapped to his waist, beside him were two other shinigami. One was a male who wore a black shihakuso who had a bald head and had his zanpakuto attached to a string that he carried over his shoulder. The other one was a beautiful woman who had long orange blond hair that reached mid-back, she had a pink scarf around her shoulders and a necklace around her neck and her most noticeable feature was her incredibly large bust and voluptuous body.

These three were Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of the tenth division, Rangiku Matsumoto, lieutenant of the tenth division and Ikaku Madarame, 3rd seat of the 11th division. Ichigo stared at the three allies before him. "Toshiro you're here too?" A tick mark appeared over the young captain's forehead. "That's_** Hitsugaya-taichou**_ to you Kurosaki." He spoke through clenched teeth.

Orihime smiled and waved to Rangiku. "Hello, Matsumoto-chan". She spoke in a cheerful tone.

"Orihime, you look as great as ever" Rangiku replied in respectful manner.

Renji who had recovered thanks to Orihime's healing slowly stood up and addressed their guests. "Hitsugaya-taichou, not to sound disrespectful, but why are you here exactly? Is it about that hollow we fought?"

"Something about that. Anyways you guys have to get you're asses back to seireitei right away." Ikkaku snapped in his usual tone.

"First off show some damn respect to your superiors Ikkaku, second I was talking to Hitsugaya and thirdly don't order me around you bald bastard".

Said _bald bastard _glared at the red head. "What did you say!? I'll talk to you however I want and what do you mean superior?"He respondedasked

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT UP!" He yelled and earned the silence of Renji and Ikkaku, but they were still glaring at one another.

Hitsugaya cleared his throat before continuing. "Now then; onto the matter at hand. The reason we came here is in fact related to the strange hollow you fought. I need you to tell me as much as you can about your encounter with it."

And so Ichigo explained to Hitsugaya about his encounter with the morphed soul. How the hollows seemed to be attracted to it, how when one of the hollows devoured it and morphed and grew fact that it was immune to damage done by their zanpakuto's and that somehow only his zanpakuto managed to kill it.

Toshiro listened to the vital information. He went into a thinking pose, before he spoke again.

"You are not the only ones who have come across this new type of hollow." He said causing everyone's eyes to widen.

"For a while now we have been getting reports from everywhere about these hollows and their immunity to Zanpakuto. We have lost hundreds of men and no one was able to get enough data on them. Hell most were even killed before they could report back.

It's only thanks to Mayuri's unique method of surveillance that we have been able to find about these hollows." Renji and Uryuu frowned, having found out that they had the same surveillance implanted in them courtesy of the crazy scientist. "And even then our knowledge about them is still limited."

Ikkaku then addressed Ichigo. "So far as we know you are the only Shinigami who is capable of killing them. Though I would prefer to fight them and beat all those bastards into the ground. Even I got to admit that these hollows are better off dead and gone."

"Due to the severity of the situation, the sotaichou has called you, Renji Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki back to soul society to help us deal with this new problem." Rangiku said.

Ichigo looked at the group in surprise. "Hold up I can't just leave, like you said I am the only one with the power to stop these hollows. Leaving Karakura wide open like that is something that I sure as hell can't do." He yelled at the group.

Kisuke's eyes suddenly shot up in realization. "I almost forgot to mention that Kurosaki isn't the only one here that can destroy the hollows."

Everyone stared at him before proceeding to punch the man in the head, well except Orihime who just stared at the man. All the shinigami in the room glared and yelled at the man. "WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THAT EARLIER?!"

"Well I wanted to see where this conversation would go." Everyone rolled their eyes at the man that was Kisuke Urahara.

Kisuke straightened out his hat before his voice took on a serious tone. "Even if I did say who it was, Kurosaki would have gone with you."

Ichigo snapped. "How so?"

"Because the only people who are able to kill these hollows, are sitting right over there." He pointed to Uryuu, Chad and Orihime.

Toshiro and Ichigo's eyes widened at that. "You three are able to kill those hollows?" Toshiro asked in amazement.

Uryuu straightened his glasses as he spoke. "We really didn't think much about it at the time as we thought they were just a more powerful type of hollow, but we didn't see any of the souls like Ichigo mentioned. They must have come from somewhere else."

Orihime then asked Kisuke the question that was on everybody's mind, "But Kisuke-san, how do you know that we are able to kill these new hollows? I mean they could have simply been like the normal hollows we faced every day."

Kisuke answered. "Orihime-san they answer to your reasonable question is that according to your and Ichigo's stories, both of your groups fought hollows that had incredibly strong reiatsu level and they both possessed strange markings on their bodies. From this I'm able to conclude that you three are able to destroy them. But until I do some more research I cannot confirm anything yet."

Toshiro and the others seemed to accept the answer for now.

Yoruichi then directly addressed Ichigo. "Ichigo, it would be best that you leave for the seireitei at once. You can't ignore a direct order, especially if it's from old man Yama. If he wants you to return then you must return now."

Ichigo looked hesitant "But.."

"Ichigo"

Ichigo then turned to Chad who had finally spoken after so long. "You don't have to do everything by yourself. Uryuu and I can handle any threat while you're gone."

Uryuu agreed with Chad. "Yasutora is correct Ichigo, but at the very least take Inoue with you. Knowing your tendencies you will no doubt go and get yourself beaten half to death."

Ichigo looked at his two friends and sighed in annoyance, "Damn you guys are gonna be the death of me. Just promise me that you both won't go and get yourselves killed, all right?" Chad and Uryuu nodded in response.

"Okay then!" Urahara exclaimed as he got up and directed everyone to the secret underground training grounds. "Let's get you kiddies ready for transport. The senkaimon is all charged and ready to go and it is best that we do not keep everyone in the seireitei waiting." He spoke in a sing song voice.

Everyone got up and followed the former captain of the twelfth division.

* * *

To say that the Gotei 13 was in chaos was clearly an understatement. Once they had arrived they could see that the entire place had just recovered from an attack. As they were escorted to the captains meeting hall they saw that a lot of destruction had been made to the surrounding buildings and bodies littered the streets. Further on into the gotei 13 they saw the inhabitants from the rukon districts, most likely from the ones closest to the seireitei.

Ichigo gripped his hands in silent fury. He was going to get the hollows that did this and take down their boss, Madara. From the looks that his comrades gave him, he could tell that they all felt the same way.

The group finally arrived at the meeting hall and quickly entered the building. As they opened the doors they saw that all the captains were present and awaiting their arrival.

Hitsugaya and the rest bowed in respect to Genryusai Yamamoto. Well Ichigo bowed after Rukia gave him a swift blow to the head.

"You are late", the old man stated to Hitsugaya."My apaologies Sotaichou", he bowed in respect.

Genryusai sighed, "What's done is done, so onto business. We must find a way to deal with these new hollows."

Mayuri Kurotshuchi soon spoke up, "If you managed to get some decent information, instead of fooling around in the world of the living, then please hurry up and share it with us already." He ordered rather harshly causing everyone to roll their eyes at the man's usual rudeness.

And so Hitsugaya started to resume the long process of sharing the information they had on the new types of hollows. When he was done the captains were all trying to decide what to do with the new information they had been given.

"If that is all the information you have then you may leave." He told to the group who all bowed in respect. However just as everyone was preparing to leave Ichigo eyes suddenly widened.

"Hold up there is something else." This got the attention of everyone in the room. "While we were trying to protect that mutated soul he said something about someone doing something to him and a bunch of other souls." Byakuya Kuchiki spoke up, "What type of information did this soul give you, Kurosaki?"

"He didn't give us much, only a name." Ichigo replied. "Well then spit it out already boy, what is the name?" Mayuri snapped rather impatiently.

"He said the man's name was… Madara."

The moment he uttered that name everyone in the room experienced different emotions. Soifon, Byakuya, Komamura, Kenpachi, Mayuri and Ichigo's group all had curious expressions, wondering who Madara was. But Unohana, Ukitake, Shunsui, Yamamoto and oddly enough Rangiku all had their eyes wide in shock at the mention of the name.

Seeing this everyone's curiosity only grew, anything that could surprise even the Sotaicho was definitely something worth knowing.

"Madara, that name sounds quite familiar. Shunsui isn't that…?" Ukitake turned to his old friend who merely nodded his head. "I think it is the very same one."

"What the hell is all this fuss about? Who the heck is this Madara guy and is he strong?" Kenpachi Zaraki asked for the first time during the whole conversation, most likely because of the mention of someone who was supposedly strong.

It was Unohana who answered his question."Madara is… a very powerful and dangerous enemy." She said with a frown on her face.

Soifon added her own two cents to the conversation, "Sotaichou give me the order and I will have the stealth force, along with myself, hunt down this Madara."

Yamamoto had his eyes closed in deep thought ever since Madara's name was mentioned. After a while he opened his eyes and answered the captain of the second division. "No, that will not be necessary. Madara is too powerful an enemy and you have little to no information about him whatsoever."

"Then how do you propose we go about dealing with him?" Mayuri asked.

Shunsui seemed to have caught on to what the old man was thinking, because a look of uncertainty crossed his face. "Old man don't tell me that you are thinking about bringing _them_ here are you? I know the enemy is kind of strong this time, but to call on their help…Don't you think that is a little extreme?"

The sotaicho had a defiant look in his eyes, "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Besides, _they _know more about Madara than anyone we know."

Captain Hitsugaya cleared his throat, "Um… pardon me sotaichou, but who exactly are you referring to?"

The oldest shinigami stared at the young captain with a gaze that could melt even steel. "I am referring to what is probably the most powerful military unit besides the Gotei 13 itself." Everyone in the room was shocked at the idea of such a powerful group that was equal in strength to the Gotei 13.

"Let it be known that I, Genryusai Yamamoto, am hereby ordering the return of the former elite stealth and assassination unit… **The Bijuu Corps**"

Rangiku put a hand to her mouth in surprise to stifle the gasp which nearly escaped her mouth. An action which confused Hitsugaya, but he decided to ask her about it later.

"Pardon me, but what exactly is the Bijuu Corps?"

"The Bijuu Corps is a secret and extremely powerful group of Shinigami whose existence is known to only a select few. In fact, they were only called upon in moments of critical urgency. They were even tasked to eliminate groups of powerful Menos Grande such as the Vasto Lordes. In fact they are the reason why they are so few in number." answered Unohana.

"I..Incredible, I never knew that Soul Society had such a strong group of people like that." Hitsugaya said in amazement.

Soifon scoffed in doubt, "Please if these cowards are as strong as you claim, then why were they not there when we were fighting Aizen?

Ukitake sighed, "You see Soi Fon-chan, the reason for that is because the Bijuu Corps left the Gotei 13 a little while before Yoruichi-chan did."

"Why would they do something like that if the seireitei was in such a dire situation at the time?" Rukia asked.

"Rukia-chan… now is not the time to explain that right now." Ukitake said. "Let's just say that after a certain incident…the Bijuu Corps got into a disagreement with us and they haven't liked us since."

Rukia would have pressed on, but was stopped by Ichigo who noticed the sad look in the eyes of the three captains who knew the most about the Bijuu Corps.

"Not one to sound doubtful, but not once in the entirety of the Gotei 13's records has there ever been a mention of this Bijuu Corps. Even in the restricted files and documents, there is no knowledge of them."

"That is because on the day they left, they snuck into all the most secure locations in the Gotei 13 and deleted all knowledge concerning their identities, their unique abilities and even their zanpakuto abilities. They made it as if they never existed at all", Shunsui replied.

"You expect me to believe that this group of renegades infiltrated and bypassed our best security measures and destroyed incredibly valuable knowledge and it was all done right under our noses?"Mayuri yelled out in disbelief.

"ENOUGH!" Yamamoto snapped as he slammed his staff on the ground. "We are wasting precious time. Every moment we waste here is more and more valuable time given to the enemy." Everyone immediately stopped talking and listened intently to the Sotaichou. "Considering that we cannot spread our defenses too thin, we cannot send too many of the captains to find and bring back the Bijuu Corps. Mayuri, you will stay here and continue your research on these new hollows. If necessary call in Urahara for assistance, the faster we get information, the faster we may all rest easy."Mayuri nodded his head in acknowledgement, but he frowned at the idea of working with his former superior. "The captains of the tenth, seventh and second division will accompany Ichigo Kurosaki's group to bring back the Bijuu Corps. The rest of you are to remain here and defend the Seireitei from future attacks. Are there any questions?"

Ichigo raised his hand, "Yeah, I have one jii-chan. Why the hell do you need me to go and fetch these guys? Aren't Renji, the captains and the others you're sending enough?" Ichigo knew he shouldn't have yelled like that, but he did not want be used as someone's errand boy.

Everyone was shocked at the tone Ichigo used and Rukia along with almost all the Shinigami in the room quickly punched him on the head adding quick cries of BAKA.

The captain commander stared at Ichigo for a moment, making everyone think that he was probably wondering how badly to burn Ichigo. They were surprised when he answered without any rage or anger evident in his voice. "Ichigo Kurosaki… you are rash, headstrong, ignorant, hotheaded, quick to anger and you clearly lack respect for your superiors." Ichigo felt kind of embarrassed that the old man would say all that out loud." However, you clearly are the type of person who would never abandon their comrades, no matter how dangerous the situation. You would even become a demon if it meant to protect your comrades." Ichigo was surprised at the old man's words. "Thosee qualities are exactly the same as the leader of the Bijuu Corps. He will no doubt become more inclined to help us if you are the one who convinces him. Besides as a substitute Shinigami, the chances are even more in our favor."

"But even if I can convince this guy, what about the others?" Ichigo asked.

"Do not worry about that Ichigo-san. The members of the Bijuu Corps greatly respect their leader and will gladly follow him through the gates of Hell and back. If you can convince their leader to join us, then they will be convinced as well." Ukitake answered the orange haired teen.

Ichigo nodded in understanding. "Are there any more questions?" Yamamoto asked. Everyone was stunned when Rangiku raised her hand. Sure she was known to avoid her work, but she would never really ignore something as important a situation as this.

"Sotaichou… Is it really necessary that I accompany everyone on this mission?" she asked with a sad frown.

Unohana gently answered her question, "I understand your feelings Matsumoto-chan. But considering your… past relationship with the leader of the Bijuu Corps… it would probably be in everyone's best interest if you do." Rangiku blushed a little at that part, which did not go unnoticed by the females present.

Hitsugaya was surprised that his lieutenant of all people would know someone as important as the Bijuu Corps leader. He would have to ask her later on, what her relationship with the man was.

Rangiku sighed, "Guess I have no chance in the matter."

"Anymore questions?" Yamamoto asked impatiently. No one raised their hands.

"Good then you will rest up tonight and tomorrow you will all head for the Bijuu Corps last known location. '**The Gisei no Tani'**. With that matter over with Genryusai slammed his staff on the ground and put an end to the meeting.

* * *

**Hot Springs**

Rangiku Matsumoto sighed in relief as she let all of her stress just melt away in the hot springs of Soul Society. She let the warm waters embrace her voluptuous body and eased her tense muscles while drinking some good quality sake. Her cheeks blushing red from the amount she had been drinking. However it seemed the arrival of some new 'guests' was about to bring all of her stress back. "Are you alright, Matsumoto-chan?" Matsumoto blinked as she turned around and spit out all the sake she was drinking in surprise when she saw that Rukia, Orihime and Soifon were in the springs with her. "Inoue, you scared me for a moment. Exactly how long have you been here?" Rangiku asked all flustered. "We've been here for the last couple of minutes, fukutaichou." Soifon answered abruptly, with Rukia nodding in agreement, though both had unconsciously crossed their arms over their chests in embarrassment. Feeling slightly self-conscious about the size of their assets in the presence of the busty beauties. A sly grin made its way to Rangiku's face.

"Oh I get it, you brought Rukia-chan and Soifon-taichou so you can all learn my secrets to seducing men, riiiiiight?" she ended the last part with an extension, due to her drunken state. Immediately all three women blushed with their faces turning red. "O…o… of course not!" they all screamed. A curious and slightly ditsy look made its way to Rangiku's face. "Huh?! Then why did you three come here then?" Rukia and Orihime were trying their best to come up with the right question to ask for such a delicate situation, but Soifon blurted it out , "We want to know what your connection to the leader of the Bjuu Corps is."

The effect was instantaneous. All at once Rangiku's emotions did a complete one-eighty as her joking smile was replaced with a look of shock and quickly replaced by sadness. All three girls noticed the rather hurt expression on the women's face. Rangiku turned away from the other women and rose to her full height. Just when it seemed like she wouldn't answer, Rangiku she uttered, "…W...w...we had an...extremely consensual relationship, allright." she said blushing heavily.

Rangiku then got out of the springs and quickly wrapped herself up in a towel before entering the barracks and closing the door rather harshly behind her.

"An extremely consensual relationship?" Soifon repeated, "Did you see how much Rangiku-chan was bushing?", Orihime said. "I have never seen Rangiku-chan so private of her personal life. Normally she would enjoy rubbing something like tha in our faces, but she seemed quite embarrassed. I wonder what kind of person that man was for Rangiku to feel so private." As multiple perverted thoughts went through their heads, all three women were blushing so much that their entire upper bodies were red. Whether it was from the heat of the hot spring or the heat from their bodies was not known.

Orihime asked the other women, "D…Do either of you suddenly feel ashamed and embarrassed?", Rukia and Soifon answered by sinking into the water leaving their heads barely visible, causing the orange haired girl to sweat drop.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Rangiku left the girls section of the hot springs she passed by Hitsugaya who had been patiently waiting. "Matsumoto, how are you this evening?" She let a big sigh, "Not bad taichou, is there something you need?"

"Yes there is actually. I was wondering if you could tell me what your connection to the Bijuu Corps …" Before Hitsugaya could even finish his sentence, he was grabbed and lifted off the floor and soon came face to face with Rangiku, who had a very angry expression on her face, causing him to sweat in fear.. "HAVEN'T YOU EVER LEARNED THAT IT'S RUDE TO ASK A SOMEONE A PERSONAL QUESTION YOU LITTLE BRAT." She yelled. She dropped him rather harshly and then stomped her way towards the door and closed it with so much force that the sliding door's handle was smashed to splinters. Hitsugaya could only stare in bafflement at the direction his lieutenant had left and for the first time in his life, he finally understood why men feared women so much.

* * *

**Hot Springs, men section**

While Ichigo, Renji, Ikkaku, were relaxing in the hot springs, they were slightly startled when loud shouting came from the barracks, followed by a huge bang. Not long after Hitsugaya came out and entered the hot springs. He looked up and glared at them, "Not… one…word", he said in a deadly whisper. They were all suddenly startled by the voice of a new comer. "Come on Toshiro, it's normal to get chewed out by women once in a while. Think of this as a new step for you in your experience with dealing with women."

"Kyoraku!" Toshiro yelled in surprised.

The older man was relaxing with them in the hot springs, drinking from a sake gourd. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo asked rather bluntly. Shunsui simply laughed, "I just came here to wish you guys luck for your mission tomorrow… and to enjoy the _beautiful sights_ here in the hot springs." Ichigo could only stare at the man with a deadpanned expression. Shunsui's expression soon turned serious, "All joking aside, there is something important I came here to tell you. It concerns some very important information that just might keep you guys alive."

Ikkaku spoke up, "Does this information have anything to do with these Bijuu guys?"

The veteran captain nodded, "Yes, but it isn't information that regards who they are and what their Zanpakuto can do. While I can certainly tell you, I'm sorry to say that I won't."

"Excuse me for my rudeness, Kyoraku-taichou, but why the hell not?" Renji asked his superior.

He took another sip of sake before answering, "Cause with the Bijuu Corps already not liking us as it is, I figured giving you sensitive Intel wouldn't really help you guys in gaining their trust. The information I am going to give you is info concerning their main technique. It's called the '**Kage Suterusu'."**

"The '**Kage Suterusu'**?" Ikkaku asked

"Exactly. It is considered as the perfect stealth and assassination technique and it is only known to the members of the Bijuu Corps. It allows the user to hide their presence within the shadows."

"How exactly does this put us in danger?" Renji asked, "If they hide in shadows then they can't attack us without exposing themselves…Right?"

"You're thinking too simple Renji. The technique is much more complex than that. Even some of the more intelligent people in seireitei do not completely understand how they manage to make the technique work. Basically if one of the bijuu corps members were to use it, they would not be hiding _in _the shadows rather they would _become _the shadows."

Everyone one present was surprised about such a technique, so simple yet difficult at the same time. "Think of it like this, instead of sinking into a sea of darkness, they use the shadows as a veil covering their forms. They exist on the same plane of reality as us, but are completely hidden from the eyes of the enemy. Thanks to the **'Kage Suterusu'**, anyone can mask their rieatsu and remain hidden from the eyes of the enemy, so they can easily sneak up on their targets and deal a lethal strike. Whatsmore, even if someone were to strike the exact spot the person is in, their attack would simply hit air."

"Is there any way to counter such a technique?" Hitsugaya asked.

Shunsui paused to take a sip from his gourd, before answering," While impressive as it sounds, using the technique does leave the user with a few handicaps. One handicap is that it can only presented whenever there is darkness. Light reveals them and doesn't allow them to maintain the technique. So if there are no shadows or not enough shadows, the technique cannot be used. Another handicap is that the use of ones zanpakuto is extremely limited and they are not capable of using kido while using the technique. Certain types of shikai cannot be used while using the technique and there is no way for a person to use bankai. Basically if too much spiritual pressure is used while using the **'Kage Suterusu', **the enemy risks revealing their presence to their targets. The entire basis of this technique is to be perfectly balance in mind, body and soul."

"So all it takes is for us to reveal them is to raise our reiatsu to high levels?" Ichigo asked.

Shunsui shook his head, "Unfortunately no. No matter how much you raise your spiritual pressure it won't reveal the enemy to you. That only applies to anyone who uses the '**Kage Suterusu'.**"

Shunsui rose out of the water and draped a towel around him. "I think I told you enough information. You might want to get some sleep; your wakeup call will be before sunrise." Having finished what he came to do, the captain of the eighth division took his leave.

Ichigo stared at Ikkaku, Renji and Hitsugaya and they all shared a silent agreement, that this mission would be very difficult and that the slightest mistake could cost them their lives.

* * *

Ichigo yawned and rubbed his eyes of fatigue with one of his arms, while the other supported the sleeping form of Orihime Inoue. Shunsui hadn't been kidding when he said that they would be leave very early. When he woke he saw that it wasn't even dawn and now they were travelling via shunpo to their destination as quickly as possible. If what Shunsui had said about their opponents was true, then they had to arrive at their destination as early as possible. If they did not find and return with the Bijuu Corps, by nightfall then they would be wide open to an ambush attack thanks to the power of their **'Kage Suterusu' **technique. On the horizon he could see the faintest of sunlight illuminate the dark sky.

He spotted out of the corner of his eye, Hitsugaya near Rangiku. Ichigo sighed knowing exactly why the silver haired boy was trying to do.

"Rangiku", he called getting her attention, she glanced over her shadow. "I understand that you will not tell us about your connection to the leader of the Bijuu Corps." Soifon and Ruka blushed slightly, "But could you at least tell us why they left the seireitei? Every little bit of information we have counts."

Rangiku was silent for a while before she answered him. " It happened a long time ago, around the time Kisuke Urahara was made captain. The Gotei 13 had asked the Bijuu Corps to investigate about a possible coup d'état that was brewing within the central 46. Two members took up the mission… but they were discovered after having their identities revealed by an anonymous source. After they were discovered… they were killed." Rangiku looked on with a sorrowful look, but she continued with her story. "While most people would have moved on, the Bijuu Corps didn't. To one another they were not just simply soldiers, they were brothers in arms who had literally been through hell together. The thought of losing either one of their teammates, was a devastating blow. They were angry and blamed the Gotei 13 for what happened, claiming that they did not try their hardest in saving their comrades. So they left and wiped all information concerning their existence."

"Hmph, true assassins would never be phased by something as small as that. They should have simply moved on." Soifon replied with an apathetic tone.

Kommamura reprimanded her, "Soifon, you should not say such things about those who you know nothing about. Especially those who hold such strong bonds of camaraderie. Besides, you are one to talk concerning your relationship with Youruichi-san. As I remember you were devastated by her leaving"

Soifon looked like she was about to argue before, Hitsugaya ineterbened, "Enough both of you, this is not time to be arguing amongst ourselves", he snapped before resuming conversation with his lieutenant. "Matsumoto, I sense you are still withholding something from us."

"Taichou with all due respect…", Rangiku stopped speaking when she noticed something in the distance. Immediately her eyes steeled. "We are here."

She stopped in her movements as the sun was beginning to rise, the others following suite. As the sun rose, more and more light illuminated the scenery before them. Ichigo noticed that before them stood two spires that rose up into the sky before curving like horns. As the sun rose, everyone's eyes widened in shock at what they saw. Most of them were dumbstruck; some were horrified while some simply frowned at the sight before them.

Rangiku broke the tense silence, "Before one of you asked why this place was called _**The Ginei no Tani**_, correct? In the past central 46 would send small forces to find and bring back the Bijuu Corps in order to condemn them as traitors… and they always told them to bring them back by force. After a while they put these up in order to send a warning to the members of central 46 and eventually they stopped sending people all together. "

The sun had by now completely illuminated the morning sky. "That message was '_**Send anymore soldiers and they will die'**__._"

Before the entire group, hanging from the curved spires was a large mass of skeletons. Skeletons, wearing the familiar shihakusho that was worn by all shinigami, were being suspended with ropes that were tied around their necks in a fashion similar to that of a person being hanged. Crows and other forms of carrion birds circled and landed on some of them.

At the ground beneath the spires was a large mass collection of rusty and broken zanpakuto that no doubt belonged to the victims above.

"Welcome to the **Valley of Sacrifice**!" she announced.

* * *

**Meanwhile**

A group of seven people were amassed beneath the shadows of the trees, sitting in a type of meditative position. Then as if they were all synchronized, they opened their eyes and stood up picking up the sheathed swords that lay next to them.

The smallest figure spoke up, "Do you all sense that? It appears we have company".

The figure next to him a woman replied, "So the Gotei 13 decides to send us more of their dogs for us to put down, huh?"

The tallest member of the group said, "Damn, them fools are too uptight, sending people who just want to fight!" He said in a sing song voice, moving his arms in a rhythmic movement that mimicked his tone.

"I at least hope that this time they at least sent someone who can put up a good fight. All these years of dealing with weak shinigami and sparring with all of you has left me feeling extremely bored and at my age that isn't a good thing." Another figure spoke in a rough voice.

"No!" a strong tone replied, catching all of them of guard. One of the figures stepped out of the shadows and into the sun, revealing the familiar form of Naruto Uzumaki. "Something feels different, about whom they sent this time. Among all the people sent, at least four have captain level reiatsu, I am curious to know why they would send someone so strong this time instead of the usual small fry. So this time make sure you take prisoners and bring them back to HQ." He said as he lazily put his sheathed katana on his shoulders.

Another figure steeped out from the shadows and revealed the red haired man known as Gaara. He spoke with a monotone voice, "You almost sound like you are looking forward to fighting them."

Naruto simply gave a small smile and chuckle before giving his comrades the order they were all eagerly waiting for.

"Bijuu Corps move out!" he shouted and in a flash they vanished within the shadows, heading to intercept Ichigo and his friends.

* * *

**Unknown Location**

In a room, far away Ichigo and the bijuu corps, a man was sitting on a throne and appeared to be in a transe like state. Torches illuminated the entire room and he had his eyes closed and breathed very slowly, as if he was some great beast that was in a deep slumber. Suddenly his eyes opened and a great wind blew through the room and the torches extinguished from the force of the wind and bathed the room in darkness. The figure simply snapped his fingers and the torches instantaneously illuminated once again. The man's eyes shone in the darkness, each had a blood red eye with three coma shaped marks in a ring circled the pupil, he chuckled to himself and spoke cryptically to no one in particular.

"Finally things are about to get interesting."

**Chapter end!**

**Translation:**** 1) Ginei no Tani= Valley of sacrifice**

** 2) Kage Suterusu technique= Shadow stealth technique**

**Thank you so much to all of those who reviewed, favorited and followed this story. I will try to keep the intervals between updates as short as possible. **

**Next chapter will feature the full appearance of Naruto and the rest of the Jinchuriki, minus two. What happened between them and Soul Society, how will Rangiku react when she sees Naruto again and which two Jinchuriki are the ones who were killed?**

**All of these questions and more will be answered in time.**

**Thanks for reading :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Jinchuuriki Rising**

**Disclaimer: **** I do not own Bleach or Naruto.**

**Previously on Jinchuriki Rising**

_With the invasion of a new breed of hollows, along with a new evil rising with the intent to wipe out the Gotei 13, the seireitei is thrown into complete chaos. In an attempt to get things back under control, the Sotaicho Genryusai Yamamoto orders Ichigo and his friends to find the former secret undercover unit of the Gotei 13 known as the Bijuu Corps. Unfortunately, upon arriving at their headquarters, they already face serious complications._

**Chapter 3**

Ichigo and the rest of the group sent to find the Bijuu corps stared with a mixture of shock, horror and slight disgust at the scene before them.

Hanging above them at the entrance to the **Gisei no Tani, **at the top of the two mountains spires were the corpses of hundreds of shinigami sent to bring back the Bijuu Corps in the past and at the bottom of the spires were the broken and rusted forms of their zanpakuto.

"I will say this much about them… they sure do now how to make their point across." Soifon said.

"T…this is horrible. So many lives lost." Ruika said with wide eyes. Renji clenched his fists, "These guys are ruthless."

"According to Captain Kyoraku, in their past life they were shinobi. Trained mercenaries, experienced hunters and élite assassins, who will do everything they can to carry out their mission." Captain Komamura said.

Soifon smirked, "I am starting to like their style." Ichigo glared at her, "You are sick you know that?" He was thankful that Orihime was till fast asleep on his shoulders.

"Enough we must continue with our mission." Hitsugaya stated firmly as he continued forward through a straight path that went through the Zanpaktou graveyard.

Needless to say, everyone was feeling a bit nervous as they walked past the many zanpaktou, with the corpses of hundreds right above them. The cries of the crows and many other carrion birds did not make the situation any better. The valley itself was surrounded by giant walls that stretched on either side for as far as the eye can see. From an aerial point of view the valley kind of resembled the walls of the Seireitei, though on a smaller scale.

A sudden thought went through Ikkaku's head, "I was just thinking about something?"

Ichigo glanced behind him, "What?"

"Well it's about the Bijuu crops secret technique that the Kyoraku-taichou mentioned earlier, the **K****age Suterusu.**"

"Yeah what about it?"

"If these guys live in a valley then how the hell are they supposed to use it in a completely deserted wasteland?"

"The answer is right in front of you baldy", Rangiku said as they finished passing through the threshold of the zanpakuto graveyard. Before he could snap at her, he was rendered speechless, standing on a ledge; they looked down below into the valley below. In front of them were giant trees that varied in different sizes. The smallest as large as a three story building and the tallest the size reached almost fifty feet. The giant forest completely covered the area below them and stretched on for miles.

"With that much cover, walking into that forest would be like walking into a mine field. The Bijuu corps would be able to overrun us with little to no effort." Hitsugaya said thinking of the best option they had to proceed.

Komamura observed the size of the forest when he suddenly tensed. His ears twitched and his animal like senses went nuts. "BEHIND US!"

Everyone spun around and looked up directly at the top of the mountainous walls of the valley. At the bottom of one of the spires was a figure. He was clothed very strangely; he was wearing a feudal era priests robe, along with a straw hat. His face was hidden from view, due to his bowed head, but they could see sand gold hair, with dark blue tips. In his right hand were sand colored prayer beads with a star like pattern on each one. They beads wrapped around his hand going all the way up to his shoulder where they kept getting bigger as they wrapped around from his shoulder to his hip many times.

"What the hell? Is that a monk?" Ichigo asked as he slowly edged his hand towards Zangetsu.

"Who are you?" yelled Soifon

The figure chuckled darkly, **"Whooo am IIII?"** he mocked in eerie singsong voice. Suddenly the monk disappeared and reappeared right in front of the group, who were all surprised by the man's speed.

The monk like figure lifted his head, revealing his face to the group. They all took a few steps back as they felt the monk's killing intent start to rise.

The monk's face was the complete opposite of what a monk was supposed to be. He had a sick, twisted and insane grin on his face. He stuck out his tongue, licking his chops and revealing his serrated teeth. But the most disturbing thing was his eyes. His entire sclera was black and his eyes were formed into a golden star like shape with four dots appearing at each corner of the pupil. As the mysterious man stared at the group they could feel the intense bloodlust radiating from him.

Ichigo swung out his Zanpakuto out of instinct, "What the hell… a hollow?" he yelled as a large getsuga tenshou made its way towards the man.

The figure simply raised his hand and backhanded the attack dispersing it into nothing. The figure continued to chuckle before he turned it into full-blown laughter. "**A hollow? me?!"** he laughed sadistically. **"Oh how I wished I could rip you all to shreds and drink your blood. But the **_**others**_** want you alive. So if you can survive this trial and live, you are free to go. But lose… and you will join those other weaklings and become bird food."** He pointed a clawed thumb up toward the corpses dangling from the spires.

Toshiro narrowed his eyes as he drew his sword, "Who are you? Do you work for the Bijuu Corps?"

The monk frowned, before speaking in a deadly tone, "**I work for no one you bastard! But enough talk…LET THE HUNT BEGIN!"**

He yelled slamming his fist into the ground. When he made contact, two cracks spread out from the point of impact and surrounded the group. Suddenly an explosion of sand flew from the cracks and the cliff completely shattered and the entire group began to fall into the valley. The entire group tried their best to move out-of-the-way, but the sand relentlessly rained down upon them immobilizing their movements as if they were stuck in a waterfall.

All the while the monk stared at the falling group, "**This is going to be fun." **he smirked, before disappearing into cloud of sand.

* * *

Gaara was resting in lotus position with his zanpakuto's resting across his lap. The zanpakuto had no blade and had only a circular guard with a gold clothed hilt. His eyes were closed and he was in a deep state of meditation. Suddenly a stream of sand raced towards him gathering around his hilt and within moments the sand reformed into his blade. Gaara opened his eyes and got up from his meditative position.

"Well what have you found out Gaara?" a voice next to him asked. Gaara turned to look at his leader and long-time friend, Naruto. "I have managed to discover the group of shinigami." He said. "From what I can tell there are about eight people. Three of them appear to be captains as well as one who possesses the same level of reiatsu as a captain, three are lieutenant class shinigami, one unranked shinigami and from what I can tell at least one girl who appears to be human."

Naruto frowned at the last part, "What do you mean appears to be human?"

"I mean as I said. One of them is human. However I suggest that we do not underestimate that girl."

Naruto stared at Gaara with frown on his face. Gaara noticed Naruto's look, "Is there something the matter?" he asked.

"You are hiding something from me Gaara", it was not a question, but rather an observation. Gaara's expression remained neutral, before sighing at being caught by the man who knew him all too well, "It concerns one of the lieutenant class shinigami." He said. "What about this lieutenant?" the blond asked.

"…Naruto the lieutenant is Rangiku Matsumoto." Gaara said.

Naruto's eyes widened when Gaara revealed the news and he was speechless. One of the figures walked out of the shadows walking in a rhythmic pattern. He was dark skinned, exceptionally tall and possessed a well-muscled build, he had on his cheek a tattoo of a bull's horn, he had the kanji for Iron on his shoulder and a bandanna covered his head which kept his slicked back white hair in place. He was wearing a white and grey, sleeveless armor and open toed blue sandals. This man was called Killer Bee the former Jinchuriki of the eight tailed bijuu, Gyuuki.

"Some broad named Rangiku Matsumoto? That name sounds familiar yo!" he rhymed, causing all those present to sigh. Suddenly Bee's face lit up, "Hold on that name is coming back to me, of that particular chick see. If my mind does not deceive me, then she must be the girl that made Naruto so happy, because she had a body that was so damn sexy…!" He never got to finish his rap as he was punched in the face by an angry Naruto. B was in now the ground, having been hit so hard that an imprint was formed into the ground. Naruto stood behind him, his fist smoking and a tick mark present on his face.

"Shut the hell up B. Don't ever talk that way about Rangiku-chan, ever! He yelled his eyes completely white and pointing his finger at B.

B waved his arms shakily through the air, "Got it Naruto, I won't be stupid no mo. I'll avoid mentioning her again…yo!" he finished before his arms collapsed and he groaned in pain.

"But still, Rangiku-chan is here? That brings back so many happy memories to all of us. You especially Naruto-kun." A feminine figure spoke from behind him. From the shadows emerged a female, she was around 28 years of age. She had a slender body with an hourglass figure. She wore similar battle armor over her body and a brown travelling cloak that Naruto, Gaara and Killer B seemed to have. She had brown eyes and long blond hair that was tied in a braid that went down the length of her back, stopping at her waist.

"Yugito, do you want to suffer the same fate as octo-pops?" He asked. The women, now known as Yugito shook her head rather frantically, "No, no of course not." She said, but inside she was thinking, _'Man, ever since he and Rangiku-chan separated, he has refused to see any other women. He really needs to get laid and soon!'_ she thought.

"What the hell are you thinking?" he asked her. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" she yelled.

Gaara quickly cleared his throat, "Personal matter aside, there is something else that I should mention. It concerns the shinigami that had the same level of reaitsu as a captain. He is tall around six feet, has orange hair and a very large Zanpakuto tied around his back. He gave off an unusual aura." He said.

"What do you mean unusual?" Naruto asked. "Unusual in the sense that it kind of reminds me of yours." Gaara said.

Naruto nodded and turned to discuss with the rest of the small group. "You all heard the info. We will engage this new group. The choice of who you wish to take is first come, first serve. You are not to kill any of them… especially not Rangiku." He quickly added a blush on his face. "As for this shinigami that Gaara mentioned I'll fight him myself, any objections?" He looked at his group who said nothing to oppose his decision."All right then. Let's head out."

"Understood!" they all shouted, and with that, they disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

Ichigo groaned as he dug his way out of the large pile of sand he was buried in. "I am going to kill that bastard next time I see him." He said as he spat out some left over sand in his mouth.

"Get in line!" Renji snapped, brushing sand off his shoulders.

"If you ladies are done complaining, we would really appreciate it if we could get back to the mission?" the captain of the second division snapped.

Grumbling under their breaths Ichigo and Renji joined the group as they took off into the forest. "Who the hell was that guy? He didn't feel anything like a hollow, but didn't feel like a shiningami either."

"What we most likely saw was a manifested zanpakuto spirit. Probably belonging to one of the members of one of the Bijuu Corps." Captain Kommamura said.

Hitsugaya unconsciously moved his hand on the hilt of his blade. "If that is the case… They are already aware of our presence here and are most likely observing our every move." Ichigo and the others couldn't help, but glance nervously around them, expecting someone to burst forth from the surrounding trees and stab them.

Ichigo suddenly tensed as his sixth sense suddenly started going crazy. Instinctively he brought his blade up to defend himself only to widen his eyes in surprise as he was sent flying back by an invisible force. "THEY'RE HERE!" he shouted to the group and everyone was soon assaulted by invisible attackers. They all pulled out their zanpakuto or were either trying to doge the invisible enemy which weaved through their ranks like the wind. It was only thanks to the groups experience in battle and their sixth sense, that they were able to avoid being impaled or stabbed, but they could do nothing to avoid the enemy's unseen blade and their bodies were soon covered in slash marks.

The group could only defend against the incoming strikes, unable to fight back against their unseen opponents. Soifon narrowed her eyes, as her sixth sense went crazy, alerting her to the presence of some next to her, '_I've got you!'_ she thought. Imagine her surprise when she felt her zanpakuto pass right through where her opponent was hidden. She quickly brought her zanpakuto up and blocked a jab to her face.

"Everyone destroy the trees! If we get rid of what makes these shadows, then the enemy will be unable to perform their technique." Hitsugaya shouted. "**Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyo…"** he was interrupted as he felt someone kick him in the stomach, releasing the air in his lungs and then slammed face fist into the trunk of a tree as he was kicked from behind. Ichigo and the other Shinigami tried to release their zanpakuto or at the very least strike down their opponents with a kido, but the enemy were quick and prevented them from carrying out their plan.

Hitsugaya cursed under his breath, _'Kuso, this is getting us nowhere. I was hoping to avoid doing this, but it seems that we do not have much of a choice.'_

"Everyone!" Hitsugaya shouted as he felt someone slash across his hip, "Split up!" he ordered. As soon as the order was carried out, everyone took off in a different direction, each one being followed by a different opponent.

Ichigo rushed through the forest, remembering what Hitsugaya told them earlier.

* * *

**Flashback**

_They traveled through the forest at breakneck speeds, their only form of light was the faint glow of the sun rising over the horizon. _

"_Listen up all of you." Soifon snapped. "As we enter the valley it is more than likely that this Bijuu Corps will have planned some form of ambush and if that happens we must find an effective way to counter their movements."_

_"According to the information provided by Kyoraku, the enemy will no doubt have some form of cover that keeps them bathed in shadows and that will not leave us with much of an attack plan if we cannot land a hit on them. Our only hope is to find a way to force them to show themselves." explained captain Komamura._

"_Why not just destroy whatever is causing the shadows? Without any cover the enemy won't be able to use their **K**__**age Suterusu **__technique."_

_Hitsugaya shook his head, "Such an idea would never be so easy, considering our opponents level of skill. They are fast precise and invisible to the naked eye, they will no doubt use their teamwork to prevent any of us from destroying their cover."_

"_Then how do you suggest we precede, Captain Hitsugaya?" Rukia asked._

"_One of the few things we do know about the enemy is that they are seven in number, so we will use that to our advantage. We won't be able to overpower them as a team, but if we can lure them away from each other…"_

"_Will be able to pick them off one by one." Ichigo finished for him. _

"_Correct" Hitsugaya nodded, "If anything happens then we will meet as soon as we can at the entrance of the valley."_

* * *

'_Seems my idea to split up worked. Each one of us should have at least one member of the Bijuu corps tailing us. The only question that remains are which team will defeat the other first?'_

Hitsugaya rushed through the forest, jumping from tree to tree as each one fell to the ground, cut clean through by a blade. As he landed on a branch he was unable to stop a kick straight to his hip. He gasped in pain as he felt the force of the hit put unneeded stress on his shallow wound. "I think this is far enough." Hitsugaya said as he unsheathed his zanpakuto. "**Reign over the Frosted Heavens, Hyorinmaru!" **as soon as his blades name was uttered an immense snow storm came to life around him. When the storm finally settled, the small area he had created completely lacked trees and was replaced by ice and snow. In his hands he held a katana with a four pointed star-shaped guard with a chain extending from the pommel and ending with a crescent moon shaped blade.

"Enough of this! Show yourself!" he yelled. Hitsugaya watched as an individual emerged from the darkness of the trees that survived his attack. The figure was around his height and was male. He had pink colored eyes, grey hair and a scar trailed down from his left eye all the way to his cheek. He was wearing a strange form of armor.

"I'm impressed. I never expected that one of the captains of the Gotei 13 could be so powerful at such a young age." He spoke in a voice that contrasted with his appearance.

"While I appreciate the comment, I find it somewhat hypocritical that I am being called a child by a child."

The figure stared at Hitsugaya his lips slowly twitching before they formed into a strained smile and a tick mark formed on his head, "You little brat. I will have you know that I am at least 28 in human years."

Hitsugaya blinked in surprise, "S…so old yet he has the body of a child?"

"HOW DARE YOU! DON'T GO CALLING OTHER PEOPLE HYOPOCRITES YOU LITTLE BRAT. UNLIKE ME, _YOU_ ARE SIMPLY A CHILD WHO HAS FAILED TO ACHIEVE A GROWTH SPURT!" He yelled waving his arms wildly in the air.

Hitsugaya growled at the man, child or whatever in front of him, "What is your name? I want to know the name of the _man _that I am about to murder in cold blood."

The figure pointed his blade towards the young captain, "My name is Yagura, and I am a member of the Bijuu Corps and former Mizukage of Kirikagure." He spoke with pride in his voice.

"My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro, Taichou of the 10th division of the gotei 13. I have orders to bring you and your teammates back to the Seireitei." He said.

Yagura closed his eyes and chuckled, "I see so that is why you are here. Well then let me say this…"

Yagura vanished only to reappear in front of Hitsugaya. Surprised by his opponents speed, he barely had time to react as he blocked Yagura's blade, his arm straining against the force his opponent used in his strike.

He looked at Yagura who had a murderous look in his eyes, "There is no way in hell that any of us will be going back to that place."

The rieatsu surrounding Yagura suddenly jumped and his zanpakuto began to glow and eerie green.

"**Surface from the Darkest Depths, Isobu!" **Hitsugaya was overrun as Yagura's zanpakuto transformed and expanded as a giant blast of water sent him flying back. Hitsugaya was thrown through the snow and coughed out from within his lungs the stray water that had managed to enter his system. He looked up as the water dispersed to reveal Yagura's shikai.

Instead of wielding one zanpakuto he was now wielding two. In both of his hands he welded hook swords with two very sharp tips. The blade on his left had a red hilt, while the blade on his right had a blue hilt. The only similarities between the blades were that they both had a triangular guard, they each had the symbol of Mizugakure on the pommel and they were both attached to chains which were in turn attached to Yagura's wrists.

Yagura charged Hitsugaya and threw his left blade at him. He immediately blocked the blade but Yagura flicked his wrist which made the hook sword return to attack Hitsugaya while Yagura jabbed his other blade right towards him.

Hitsuagay quickly threw his own chain at the oncoming above head blade, twisting around the sword and deviating it from his head. Hitsugaya then quickly used his blade to block Yagura's.

Yagura pulled his arm back, his sword's hook latching on to Hyorinmaru and he jumped over Hitsugaya and with surprising strength he flipped him over his shouders slaming him into the ground. Before the he could recover he grabbed the chain connected with his other blade and spun around in a circle dragging Hitsugaya with it. The chains finally sepearated Hitsugaya skidded away. He then shunpoed to Yagura and brought his blade down with him a stream of ice following him. Yagura swung his right blade just before the blade made contact and he stopped his strike by creating a shield of solid ice.

He then swung his left blade at him which Hitsugaya blocked. He immediately began to apply his power to his blade resulting in Yagura's blade freezing over and creating a gust of cold air. Yagura smirked as he too began to pour his power into his blade. Hitsugaya was dumbfounded as the frost on Yagura's blade vanished and he felt the blade's temperature start to rise. With a loud cry Yagura pushed him back, the cold winds vanishing and replaced by a cloud of steam.

Both fighters separated and landed a fair distance from one another. The two shinigami stared at one another, thinking the exact same thing: their opponent was incredibly strong. This would probably be one of the thoughest batlles that either of them has ever faced.

* * *

"Hold still" Renji shouted as he sent a released Zabimaru towards his opponent, who was now visible after he destroyed the trees surrounding him. His opponent dodged with amazing agility. He back flipped into the air before landing on a tree branch, "You're not half bad kid. It is times like these when I envy the youth of you youngsters." He said. He was an old man in terms of appearance and looked like he was in his mid sixties. He had red hair tied up into a pony tail with a crown like helmet on his head and he had a wild scraggy red beard. His zanpakuto was in his hands, designed with a diamond shaped guard with reddish purple cloth on the hilt.

"What's your name boy?" he asked as if Renji weren't attacking him. Renji never took his sight off of the man before him, "My name is Renji Abarai, fukutaichou of the 6th division of the gotei 13."

The man's eyebrows rose and he whistled, "Fukutaichou huh? That's impressive for one your age, though your reiatsu otherwise would suggest you are a captain." He complimented. "By the way my name is Roshi."

"Your flattery isn't going to stop me from completing my mission, Roshi." Renji said with a serious face, though he appeared less tense and slowly eased out of the attack stance he was in.

"What exactly is your mission?" Roshi asked. Renji raised and pointed his blade at him. "My mission is to escort you guys back to the Gotei 13."

Roshi had a sad look on his face. He sighed before jumping down to the ground and looked directly at Renji, "Renji was it? I am going to ask you to please put down your weapon and go home. I have no interest in killing one of the next generation."

"I am sorry old man, but I can't do that" He said to Roshi as the old man stared at him. Those eyes were the eyes of a trained veteran, one who had seen war and lived to tell about it. "If you won't listen to common sense then you leave me no choice, but to beat it into you kid." He said.

He extended his sword hand to his side just as his sword began to glow a bright orange color. Roshi's reiatsu skyrocketed and the area around him began to burn.

"**Erupt, Son Goku", **Roshi's sword erupted in a tower of molten lava that sent large pieces of molten earth all over the area like rain. Renji jumped back to avoid the radius of the falling lava and stared as the tower of lava ceased flowing and condensed around Roshi's sword hand which was also inside it.

Renji watched in amazement as Roshi pulled out his hand which did not seem burned or damaged in the slightest. Along with his arm emerged a giant staff. The two tips golden, but the length of the staff was red and an orb of greenish fire flickered on one of the tips. Roshi twirled the staff with around his whole body with well precised movements and slammed it on the ground beneath him making a small puddle of lava. "Renji, I will be giving you one last chance to back down. From here on out this is the point of no return."

Renji stared at Roshi who seemed like he wanted to do anything, but fight him, "I am sorry old man, but I cannot abandon my mission."

Roshi sighed, "So be it. You know I rarely like to use my shikai, most people say it is because I am too stubborn and I guess that they are right. However I am going to test your skills with it. If I am lucky maybe you'll get scared and then I won't have to fight you."

"Do not underestimate me old man!" Renji smirked, "I will show you just how strong I really am."

Renji resumed his attack stance as Roshi charged straight at him.

* * *

Orihime and Rukia stood with their weapons ready and pointed directly to the man in front of them.

The man was sitting on a boulder, with his zanpakuto hung lazily over his shoulder. He was around 24 in terms of age and he was tall. His eyes were a pale gold and his hair was brown, reaching his shoulders and covering his left eye. His zanpakuto was short and had a six pointed guard with a white cloth on the hilt.

"It looks like I have to fight the two of you huh?" he asked with his chin resting on his hand. Orihime and Rukia stared at the men before them. "It would seem like it."Rukia said.

The man sighed, "I see, what a bummer. Well at least you're both cute." He said.

Orihime was about to speak, but was interrupted by the man in front of her, "If you are going to ask me to surrender and allow myself to come with you to the Gotei 13, then you can forget it." He said.

He slowly drew his zanpakuto from his sheath and pointed it towards the two girls. "Orihime this could get ugly, I do not want you to get caught in the cross fire." Rukia said to her.

"But Rukia…" she started, but Rukia interrupted her, "Please do not argue with me Orihime." She said not as a member of the Gotei 13, but as her friend. Orihime seemed hesitant but she reluctantly nodded her head. "At the first sign of trouble I will come and heal you." She said.

Rukia nodded and returned to look at the man before her, "That was very brave of you to think about your friend. I can tell that she does not have much battle experience." The man said.

"Where are my manners I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Utakata, member of the Bijuu Corps." He said.

"I am Rukia Kuchiki, member of the 13th division." Rukia said.

"Let us get it started then!" his zanpakuto began to glow a light blue. **"Kill your enemies from within, Saiken!"**

Rukia was blinded by the light and failed to notice the stream of projectiles being sent her way. Fortunately for her Orihime noticed them and quickly erected her barrier, "**Santen Kesshun, I reject!"** Her hairpins glowed as three bright lights emerged from them and quickly placed themselves in front of the projectiles by erecting a triangular barrier of orange light.

"Thank you Orihime." Orihime smiled at Rukia, but she soon noticed just what exactly had hit her shield, "Bubbles?"

Rukia looked on in confusion as she saw that all around them were countless bubbles of many sizes. On one such bubble was Utakata, who was sitting on one of them, without the bubble popping from his weight.

"Do not let them fool you…" he said as he pointed his released zanpakutou at them. His shikai looked like a mix between a tanto and bubble blower. He brought the unique weapon to his lips and blew. From the the blower came a stream of bubbles that quickly surrounded the two girls.

"…These bubbles are more dangerous than they look." As he said this, a few of the bubbles passed a stray tree. The instant it popped against it, the trunk sizzled and melted away bringing the tree crashing down onto even more bubbles, melting it away to nothing. Rukia narrowed her eyes, "Acid?"

Rukia glanced at Utakata who was floating high up into the sky. "Why is he floating so high up? To get out of our range or…?" Even from that distance she could clearly make out Utakata as he brought up his right hand and formed the familiar hand sign for a person about to snap their fingers. Rukia looked all around the area filled with bubbles and it did not take long for her to put two and two together, "Dammit!" her eyes widened in panic and quickly grabbed Orihime. She heard a very loud snap which seemed to echo all over the valley, for a moment everything was silent. However that silence was only for a second as a massive explosion shook the area where the two girls once stood.

* * *

Soifon gasped as she crashed against a tree leaving a small indent of her body in the bark. She jumped up as she avoided a kick from the women in front of her. Soifon glared at her opponent who was none other than Yugito Nii.

Soifon landed on her Yugito's leg and lashed out with a kick of her own, but she blocked it with her arm and grabbed it with her other flipping Soifon over her shoulder.

Soifon with fluid grace regained her balance and landed on her feet drawing her blade before rushing towards Yugito. Soifon attacked with precise and clean cuts that deemed her worthy to be an assassin, but the Yugito dodged them all, moving with as much grace as her teacher Yoruichi. She unsheathed her blade and effortlessly blocked Soifon's. The two females battled for a stalemate as Yugito glanced at Soifon with a playful smirk on her face.

"I know you! You are that little ninja girl who used to follow Yoruichi-chan all the time. You sure have grown in terms of height, power and skill, but you seem to be lacking in certain areas." She said groping Soifon's small chest, making her blush and sending her into a fit, "Shut up the hell up, bitch!" She yelled and pushed her back before disappearing from Yugito's gaze and to reappear in front of her, delivering a strong punch directly to her face. Yugito sailed through the air before landing on the ground harshly.

Soifon smirked at seeing her opponent lying defeated on the ground. Yugito slowly got up fom the ground, her hair shadowing her eyes. She wiped whatever blood was present on her lips, and looked up at the girl in front of her. "Not bad little Soifon. The first punch was free, so from this point on you are going to have to earn your keep."

Soifon raised her zanpakuto and shouted her release command, "**Sting all enemies to death**, **Suzumebachi."** She yelled her zanpakuto transforming from a sword into a gauntlet with a stinger like blade lying on her middle finger.

"**Pounce, Huntress of Souls, Matatabi!" **she spoke in a whisper stroking the back of her blade. Her blade was suddenly enveloped in ghostly blue and black flames. The blade grew longer with a blue edge along the blade and dark blue wisps of flame surrounding her zanpakuto. Wrapped around her arm was a thin strand of a dark ribbon with a bell at the end, which emitted a soft jingle when she moved.

Soi Fon rushed towards her opponent with the intent to stab her. Yugito grinned like cat and licked her lips as she blocked every one of Soifon's strikes with her sword creating a shower of blue sparks.

"You know I've heard quite a bit about your zanpakuto from all the rumors back when we were still at the Gotei 13. Supposedly it has the ability to kill any opponent within two strikes of the same spot?"

Soifon smirked at her opponent "You are well informed of my Suzumebachi it seems. Allow me to show you in greater detail why this blade is the perfect weapon for a member of the second division."

"A fine weapon for an assassin, Soi-chan, unfortunately it won't do you any good against someone like me."

"Oh? And why is that?" She increased her speed and started striking Yugito from all sides. During one particular strike she entered Yugito's blind spot and used her arm to hit Yugito's sword arm. Redirecting her sword making it point skyward and leaving her exposed to Soifon's deadly sting.

'_So much for the Bijuu Corps' supposed strength!'_ she thought arrogantly.

"Your arrogance will be your undoing." Yugito said the moment Soifon's zanpakuto plunged into her abdomen.

However Soifon's eyes went wide in shock as her blade suddenly passed through Yugito's stomach encountering no resistance and her entire body followed after, as she stumbled through the women.

She quickly got back to her feet and stared wide-eyed at the former shinobi.

"Before you asked me why it was that your blade would not be able to hit me." She turned around and faced the petite women.

"Well now you have your answer." She lifted her head and glared at Soifon with two differently coloured eyes, one green and the other yellow.

"Yoruichi was always too lenient when training her students." she said all playfulness gone from her voice. "I think it is about time that someone teaches you to respect you seniors."

* * *

Komamura grunted as he sailed through a tree and crashed into the ground behind him. He back flipped as the place he was lying in became a crater, his unseen enemy striking the ground with tremendous force. Kommamura tried to draw his zanpakuto, but he was stopped when he felt someone punch him in his gut. Blood and spittle flew from his open mouth, but it was quickly closed as he was launched into the air. Komamura growled and tried to defend himself as he was assaulted from all sides, his attacker relentless in his assault and Komamura unable to properly attack or defend against his enemy.

He landed on the ground and got back up refusing to surrender against his opponent. His ears twitched as he heard a voice, "I'm impressed by your will. The way you stand up to my strikes with impressive skill." A voice rapped to his right, Kommamura lashed out at the spot where he heard the voice, but he only hit earth.

"No, no, no that ain't gonna work! If you wanna get one on me, you gotta do more than go berserk!"

"You say that you are impressed by my skill, yet you hide in the shadows like a coward." The voice stopped listening to what Komamura had to say, "If you truly want to see what I can really do, then why not attack me on even grounds?"

Again he heard only silence," I see, well I guess if you're true power is as good as your rapping, then I should not be worried at all."

This time he got a response in the form of a fist connecting with his face. He growled but held his ground as his opponent separated leaving distance between them.

"You just crossed the line! Ain't no way I'm letting some punk like you go and dissing my rhyme. I'll make you see, why it's not a smart idea to mess with Killer B!"

From within the shadows a pillar of reiatsu emerging almost blinding him. The tower continue to climb through the trees until it pierced through the dense cover of the forest.

Komamura drew his zanpakuto as he finally got a good look at his opponent. He was tall, dark skinned and he was wearing a unique style of armor with the sleeves torn off. He was wearing sunglasses and he had two tattoos, one on his cheek resembling a bull's horn and one on his left shoulder with the kanji for iron. His opponent put up his fists and started jumping from one leg to the other, "You got you're wish, are you happy? Well don't because I am about chew you like taffy."

He raised both of his arms and his zanpakuto in the air, "**Rampage, Gyuuki!"** he shouted bringing down his arms as thunderous clap reverbrated through the forest. When the smoke cleared Killer B revealed his zanpakuto. It had split in two going on either side of his arms. The shikai assumed the form of tonfas, the shafts resembling bull horns.

"I guess you are have more skill than just with words. Now come at me and do not dare hold back, Killer B!"

B smirked as he charged at Komamura.

* * *

"This really pissing me off!" Ikkaku shouted kicking a tree. "Will you calm down, it's better for us this way." Rangiku snapped slapping Ikkaku's bald head. After they separated from the group, the two of them had ended up running for quite a while until they final noticed that no had bothered to attack them.

"How the hell is this better?! We come here expecting hell to come flying right at us and in the end, we are the only ones who end up without any one to fight." He yelled.

"Well I should not be surprised that this is coming from someone from the 11th division. All you guys ever do is fight, fight and fight! I swear it's like you idiots were born without any brains!" she snapped irritated by Ikkaku's reasoning.

"Besides our enemy is not stupid, they could simply be bidding their time and waiting for the right time to strike."

"Why the hell would they do that?" Ikkaku asked irritated.

"Because a true assassin never strikes until the right moment."

Ikkaku was surprised when his answer came from behind him and Rangiku. They spun and faced the direction the voice came from and looked at a tree branch as a person began to materialize, melting off of him and revealed himself to the two shinigami.

He had red hair that went down to his neck, his eyes were green lacking pupils and they were surrounded by black markings. He whore a brown cloak over a set of armor that all members of the Bijuu Corps possessed. The most distinguishing thing about him was the kanji for love tattooed on the left side of his forehead. He observed the two shinigami before focusing his attention on Rangiku, "It's been awhile Rangiku. You look well."

Rangiku's expression did not change, "The same to you Gaara."

Ikkaku looked at her in shock, "Hold up you know this guy?"

She nodded, "I do. His name is Gaara and he happens to be one of two lieutenants that serve under the leader of the Bijuu Corps."

Ikkaku suddenly grinned like crazy, "So you're telling me that this guy is one on the strongest?" his hand gripping his zanpakuto tightly.

"While I do admit I am strong, there is no ranking system among us. We are all equals." Gaara corrected.

Rangiku narrowed her eyes, "Back to the matter at hand, why are you here Gaara? Have you come to kill us?" she asked.

He did not answer and jumped of the branch landing in front of them, "No I have not. We were told not to kill you and your friends. I am surprised that you'd think that he would tell us to kill you Rangiku. In fact, Naruto was more concerned about you then anything else."

She blinked in surprise, but quickly got over it, "And yet he doesn't even bother to face me himself. Where is he anyway?" she asked.

"Naruto has gone to see someone that got his attention." Rangiku and ikkaku looked at one another understanding what Gaara was talking about. Naruto had gone to see Ichigo personally. They turned to leave, but in a flash gaara was standing right in front of them. "I am not going to let you interfere. This is something Naruto must deal with himself."

Rangiku and Ikkaku unsheathed their zanpakuto, "Either you let us pass or we force our way through." Rangiku challenged.

Gaara's response was to reach into his cloak and pull out his zanpakuto.

"So be it, "**Growl, Haineko!"** her blade transformed into a cloud of ash that swirled around her like a protective shield.

Ikkaku smirked as he unleashed his shikai, "**Extend, Hozukimaru!" **he slammed his swords hilt into its sheathe. His sword began to glow and extend, the light dispersed showing Ikkaku wielding a spear with red tassles at the pommel.

"Please be cautious Rangiku, you know how dangerous I can be." he warned.

He gripped his blade and swung crying out the release command **"Awaken from your Slumber, Shukaku!"**

His zanpakuto transformed into sand and began to snake its way around his arm all the way up to his shoulder, transforming into sand colored prayer beads each with a star shaped symbol with four dots surrounding the symbol. The beads continued on from his shoulder and began to wrap around from his shoulder to his hips before finally stopping. "I recognize that weapon; it was the same on that spirit had when it threw us into the valley. So _you_ are the guy responsible for it." Ikkaku glared remembering all to well the unpleasant trip.

"I apologize for that. Shukaku is very unpredictable, but that is not important at the moment. What is important is that the both of you shouldn't hold back and that you must attack me with everything you have."

He spun his hand around before swinging and sending a volley of beads at them. The beads suddenly expanded becoming the size of a human heads and thin lines started to form on them. The lines parted revealing sharp teeth. The beads screeched and rushed to their opponents spinning so fast that they sounded like drills.

Rangiku and Ikkaku braced themselves as the spheres came flying towards them.

* * *

Ichigo rushed through the forest while at the same time dodging every single strike that came his way. His opponent attacked with such speed that he was amazed that he was not dead yet. He cringed as he felt cold steel strike his cheek leaving a fresh trail of blood to fly in the air from the strike. He was really getting tired of fighting something he could not hit.

Suddenly a figure jumped out of the shadows and lunged at Ichigo. Ichigo reacted just in time to bend backwards, avoiding the arc of the enemy's sword. Ichigo then delivered a swift kick sending his opponent flying away, landing on the ground in front of him.

"I am impressed; you and your group have been the longest to have survived our assault thus far."

"Thanks I feel so honored." Ichigo replied sarcastically. "Who are you anyway?" he asked the figure in front of him. He was tall around 22 years of age, had blond hair that reached his shoulders, three whisker like marks on each of his cheeks and he was wearing a brown travelling cloak that covered his body and black and white body armor.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I am the leader of the Bijuu Corps." He declared proudly. Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing, it was just his luck that he had to get stuck with the leader of one of the Gotei 13's most powerful units.

"I'm going to skip the crap about why we are here, because I have a feeling that you already know the reason." Ichigo said.

"You're sharp, I am fully aware that you have come here on the request of the old man to bring us back, but unfortunately for you… we have no intention of returning to that place. If they are in some kind of situation then let them deal with it. It is their problem not ours."

Ichigo frowned, "I understand that the members of the Seireitei can be major pains in the ass, but that isn't a reason to just let them die."

Naruto stared at Ichigo, "You are one stubborn kid. If you are not going to move then I will just have to make you move."

Naruto brought up his zanpakuto and unsheathed it. The blade was a beautifully crafted katanna, which had nonagon shaped guard, a decorated hilt covered in orange, red and gold cloth and complete with a tiny chain attached to the pommel. Naruto pointed his blade directly at Ichigo and spoke the command which would release his zanpakuto.

"**Awaken, ****Kurama!" **he shouted.

Ichigo brought his arm up to shield himself from the giant winds created from the release as an unfathomable burst of power erupted from Naruto's position as pure power uprooted trees and tore the ground apart.

When the storm finally settled Ichigo beheld the sight that was Naruto's shikai. His shikai was in the form of a giant kunai which reminded Ichigo a lot of the fangs of some kind of beast. The blade was around the same size as his Zangetsu, but instead of curving it was straight and in the form of and arrow head with both sides of the blade being vermillion along the edges. The hilt was wrapped in bandages and ended in a circle shaped pommel with bands of white cloth flaying in the wind.

As Naruto rested the hilt of his zanpakuto on his shoulders, his reiatsu soon took on the form of a giant nine tailed fox snarling at him.

"I hope you are ready then Ichigo Kurosaki, cause I am not going to hold back." He shouted.

Ichigo smirked, "I wouldn't expect anything less." He said.

The battle between the former Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and substitute shinigami was about to begin.

* * *

**Chapter end!**

**This chapter showed quite a bit of the Bijuu Corps as well as some of their zanpakuto abilities. Next chapter will feature longer fights shown above and even further demonstrating the abilities of each zanpakuto. **

**In case you are all wondering what type of armor they are wearing, it is the same armor shown at the beginning of chapter 567.**

**Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the new chapter and see you soon.**


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